It is generally known to provide building automation systems (BAS) having distributed network architectures. Such known systems are typically used to monitor and control operational subsystems found in commercial buildings and other facilities such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), fire, security, power management, parking structure management, elevator control, energy management, and the like.
As new requirements have arisen, new markets have opened up, and new technologies have become available, it has become necessary to expand the functionality and scope of such systems to satisfy customer demand and to remain cost competitive. For example, current BAS architectures have recently been designed to ensure they can co-exist with IT technology on a common IT network.
Although current BAS systems are capable of co-existing with existing standardized IT networks, such known systems have not heretofore been designed to fully utilize the capabilities of IT infrastructures. For example, the heretofore known BAS systems do not incorporate or use many standardized IT technologies that are now in common use on IT networks such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Domain Name Server (DNS) protocol, Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), web services, standards-based IT security mechanisms, and the like.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide building automation systems that not only co-exist with IT systems, but are capable of directly interacting with and fully utilizing the standardized features and capabilities of such networks. In particular, it would be advantageous to provide BAS controllers and related devices that are capable of using standards-based technologies of existing IT networks such as DHCP, DNS, SNTP, SNMP, SMTP, web services, standards-based IT security mechanisms, and the like. Inexpensive, reliable, and widely adaptable IT compatible BAS systems that provide the above-referenced and other standardized IT functionality would represent a significant advance in the art.